“Now we will drink to the good fortune of my old arms on Harilek,” said Paulos, clapping his hands. Whereupon the old hatchet-faced man brought us in wine of Paulos’s best, and they drank to me. The old archer also drank and said a few words, which Aryenis translated as meaning to say that I looked a proper kind of soldier, and that he hoped I would carry the arms as worthily as his master had done. I think there was an old family-retainer spice of doubt in his mind on the point.
“And now we must ride,” said Aryenis, putting on her cloak. “I want to get to Miletis early to-day and see every one. It’s too wonderful to be getting home after thinking I had seen the last of it all. Good-bye, uncle mine, and thank you for everything.”
“Good-bye, child,” he said, kissing her. “Come and see me when the men ride away, and when this young man comes back, bring him, too, that I may hear how he has carried my arms. Good-bye, Harilek, and all good fortune mark your days. Remember that the Brown Sakae strike low, ever, upward from the knee.”
He gave me his hand, and then Aryenis and I went out to the horses, the statuesque old man, with his grim scarred retainer standing behind him, watching us as we went.
Our escort apparently knew what to expect, for they evinced no surprise at my new rig-out, and one of them carried a package behind his saddle, which I guessed was my old clothes. But as I came down the steps they all touched their steel caps in salute to my new arms and to me wearing them, as is the custom of the Sakae when men don mail for the first time, and spoke to me, wishing me, as Aryenis translated, good fortune and high honour in war.
Considering we were complete strangers not knowing their tongue, and come in from Heaven alone knows where, I must say the Sakae were extraordinarily friendly. Never did we meet with a trace of enmity or jealousy among all Kyrlos’s people. This I attribute to Aryenis’s impossibly exaggerated account of our doings in the gate, for the Sakae consider personal valour as the greatest of passports to position. Money they count not at all, and birth but little; while they have but small respect even for an hereditary chief until he has proven himself a man. But once a man has shown that his courage is beyond reproach, then they will follow him through thick and thin, and—if he be just and impartial—abide by his rule in peace if he be set over them, although they prefer to be ruled by those of good birth, considering such as more likely to deal impartial justice.
They drank to me from goblets of wine sent out by Paulos, and Aryenis made them a little speech on my behalf, which they seemed to approve. Then we mounted our horses, rode out of the grounds, and set our faces toward Miletis.
Riding down the lane, Aryenis pointed out to me the long stretch of Paulos’s land, which ran all along the hill for several miles, and down below into the broad valley.
“Some day, when we’ve more time, I’ll show you over it. There are some lovely bits up there among the woods.”
From the road on this day of cloud-flecked blue sky, with the autumn sunshine and the fresh cool breeze in our faces, it looked very beautiful, although many of the trees were nearly bare. In summer it must have been perfectly lovely, as Aryenis said, and even now the splashes of russet and crimson among the barer trees made a very gorgeous contrast to the more sombre pines.